User:Stanley E.J.R/sandbox

The Callista emerged in the late 1940s, the product of two men by the name of Antonio Monge, proprietor of a race-car preparation business and Robert Rowe, an electrical engineer. Rowe also had a talent for drawing and drew the plans for the first Callista roadster. The original Callista with its rounded, slightly plump body shape and small vertical grille was a road going rendition of these fairground cars, an observation given even more credence by the fact that a small vertical grille opening was supplying air to an air-cooled flat twin! However, the original car was intended to be raced at Le Mans. Monge set about making the 610cc Panhard twin more competitive for the race. They were entered near the tail end with the number 56. It was completed by 24th June, just in time for the 1950 Le Mans race. The team finished in number 28 position. Following this the car competed successfully in the Coupe des Alpes. As a consequence the original production Callista was thus called, and was essentially the work of Rowe and Monge. It was a tidied up, straightened up version of car 56 to look at, but was a little longer and more luxuriously trimmed as a tourer. Weight went up to about 620- 630kg. The car ran again at the 1951 Le Mans race with Chancel as driver and managed 26th place, taking home 8th place on Index. https://www.racingsportscars.com/make/Callista.html. A production Callista Ranelagh was also entered by another team, driven by Colas and Schollmann and still running a 610cc engine. It reproduced the 1950 result, finishing in 28th place. Gaillard returned for a final run in the car in 1952, and with Chancel co-driving managed a respectable 16th place, still running the 610cc engine. Other competition successes followed in the Liège-Rome-Liège, the hillclimb Essarts du Rouen, the Rallye des Alpes and the SableSolesmes rally. https://rarefrenchsportscars.wordpress.com/from-callista-to-arista/ https://web.archive.org/web/20110929170213/http://carcatalog2.free.fr/sito153.htm